Cargando…

Performance of an Emergency Road Ambulance Service in Bhutan: Response Time, Utilization, and Outcomes

Background: An efficient ambulance service is a vital component of emergency medical services. We determined the emergency ambulance response and transport times and ambulance exit outcomes in Bhutan. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving real-time monitoring of emergency ambulance deployments...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tshokey, Tshokey, Tshering, Ugyen, Lhazeen, Karma, Abrahamyan, Arpine, Timire, Collins, Gurung, Bikash, Subedi, Devi Charan, Wangdi, Kencho, Vilas, Victor Del Rio, Zachariah, Rony
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9227530/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35736966
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7060087
_version_ 1784734204738666496
author Tshokey, Tshokey
Tshering, Ugyen
Lhazeen, Karma
Abrahamyan, Arpine
Timire, Collins
Gurung, Bikash
Subedi, Devi Charan
Wangdi, Kencho
Vilas, Victor Del Rio
Zachariah, Rony
author_facet Tshokey, Tshokey
Tshering, Ugyen
Lhazeen, Karma
Abrahamyan, Arpine
Timire, Collins
Gurung, Bikash
Subedi, Devi Charan
Wangdi, Kencho
Vilas, Victor Del Rio
Zachariah, Rony
author_sort Tshokey, Tshokey
collection PubMed
description Background: An efficient ambulance service is a vital component of emergency medical services. We determined the emergency ambulance response and transport times and ambulance exit outcomes in Bhutan. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving real-time monitoring of emergency ambulance deployments managed by a central toll-free (112) hotline (20 October 2021 to 20 January 2022) was carried out. Results: Of 5092 ambulance deployments, 4291 (84%) were inter-facility transfers, and 801 (16%) were for emergencies. Of the latter, 703 (88%) were for non-pregnancy-related emergencies (i.e., medical, surgical, and accidents), while 98 (12%) were for pregnancy-related emergencies. The median ambulance response and patient transport times were 42 (IQR 3–271) and 41 (IQR 2–272) minutes, respectively. The median round-trip distance travelled by ambulances was 18 km (range 1–186 km). For ambulance exit outcomes that were pregnancy-related (n = 98), 89 (91%) reached the health facility successfully, 8 delivered prior to ambulance arrival at the scene or in the ambulance during transport, and 1 had no outcome record. For the remaining 703 non-pregnancy deployments, 29 (4.1%) deployments were deemed not required or refusals, and 656 (93.3%) reached the health facility successfully; 16 (2.3%) died before the ambulance’s arrival at the scene, and 2 (0.3%) were not recorded. Conclusions: This first countrywide real-time operational research showed acceptable ambulance exit outcomes. Improving ambulance response and transport times might reduce morbidities and mortalities further.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9227530
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-92275302022-06-25 Performance of an Emergency Road Ambulance Service in Bhutan: Response Time, Utilization, and Outcomes Tshokey, Tshokey Tshering, Ugyen Lhazeen, Karma Abrahamyan, Arpine Timire, Collins Gurung, Bikash Subedi, Devi Charan Wangdi, Kencho Vilas, Victor Del Rio Zachariah, Rony Trop Med Infect Dis Article Background: An efficient ambulance service is a vital component of emergency medical services. We determined the emergency ambulance response and transport times and ambulance exit outcomes in Bhutan. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving real-time monitoring of emergency ambulance deployments managed by a central toll-free (112) hotline (20 October 2021 to 20 January 2022) was carried out. Results: Of 5092 ambulance deployments, 4291 (84%) were inter-facility transfers, and 801 (16%) were for emergencies. Of the latter, 703 (88%) were for non-pregnancy-related emergencies (i.e., medical, surgical, and accidents), while 98 (12%) were for pregnancy-related emergencies. The median ambulance response and patient transport times were 42 (IQR 3–271) and 41 (IQR 2–272) minutes, respectively. The median round-trip distance travelled by ambulances was 18 km (range 1–186 km). For ambulance exit outcomes that were pregnancy-related (n = 98), 89 (91%) reached the health facility successfully, 8 delivered prior to ambulance arrival at the scene or in the ambulance during transport, and 1 had no outcome record. For the remaining 703 non-pregnancy deployments, 29 (4.1%) deployments were deemed not required or refusals, and 656 (93.3%) reached the health facility successfully; 16 (2.3%) died before the ambulance’s arrival at the scene, and 2 (0.3%) were not recorded. Conclusions: This first countrywide real-time operational research showed acceptable ambulance exit outcomes. Improving ambulance response and transport times might reduce morbidities and mortalities further. MDPI 2022-05-31 /pmc/articles/PMC9227530/ /pubmed/35736966 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7060087 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Tshokey, Tshokey
Tshering, Ugyen
Lhazeen, Karma
Abrahamyan, Arpine
Timire, Collins
Gurung, Bikash
Subedi, Devi Charan
Wangdi, Kencho
Vilas, Victor Del Rio
Zachariah, Rony
Performance of an Emergency Road Ambulance Service in Bhutan: Response Time, Utilization, and Outcomes
title Performance of an Emergency Road Ambulance Service in Bhutan: Response Time, Utilization, and Outcomes
title_full Performance of an Emergency Road Ambulance Service in Bhutan: Response Time, Utilization, and Outcomes
title_fullStr Performance of an Emergency Road Ambulance Service in Bhutan: Response Time, Utilization, and Outcomes
title_full_unstemmed Performance of an Emergency Road Ambulance Service in Bhutan: Response Time, Utilization, and Outcomes
title_short Performance of an Emergency Road Ambulance Service in Bhutan: Response Time, Utilization, and Outcomes
title_sort performance of an emergency road ambulance service in bhutan: response time, utilization, and outcomes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9227530/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35736966
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7060087
work_keys_str_mv AT tshokeytshokey performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes
AT tsheringugyen performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes
AT lhazeenkarma performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes
AT abrahamyanarpine performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes
AT timirecollins performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes
AT gurungbikash performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes
AT subedidevicharan performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes
AT wangdikencho performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes
AT vilasvictordelrio performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes
AT zachariahrony performanceofanemergencyroadambulanceserviceinbhutanresponsetimeutilizationandoutcomes